Why are Zac Crawley and Sam Curran not playing today’s third Test between England and West Indies at Old Trafford?

Zac Crawley and Sam Curran not playing: England have made a couple of changes to their winning combination from the last match.

During the first day of the third and deciding Test of the ongoing West Indies’ tour of England in Manchester, West Indies captain Jason Holder has won the toss and chose to bat for the second consecutive time in the series.

Expected to make a change in the bowling department, West Indies have dropped pacer Alzarri Joseph for all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall. Having picked his maiden 10-wicket haul in the last Test that he played, Cornwall can prove handy for the visitors with the bat in hand.

“With the overhead conditions, there’s a little moisture in the surface and we’re going to try and make use of it. We’ve made one change: Rahkeem Cornwall comes in for Alzarri Joseph.

“It’s horses for courses, we felt there was enough in there for a frontline spinner, and Rahkeem is a match-winner. [Shannon] Gabriel is fine,” Holder was quoted as saying during the toss.

Why are Zac Crawley and Sam Curran not playing today’s match?

As far as England are concerned, they have made a couple of changes to their winning combination. Considering the meagre chances of all-rounder Ben Stokes bowling in this match, England had to accommodate an extra bowling option in this match.

Chris Woakes, who played in the last match, has retained his spot as a replacement for all-rounder Stokes who will be playing as a specialist batsman. The changes for the hosts are that of veteran seamer James Anderson replacing all-rounder Sam Curran and fast bowler Jofra Archer playing in place of a specialist batsman in Zac Crawley.

“Zak [Crawley] unfortunately misses out, everyone moves up one. Sam Curran misses out with Jofra [Archer] and Jimmy [James Anderson] coming into the team. We’ve balanced the side as best we can. I feel like we’ve got a very good, well-balanced team.

England have played with this formation before (4 seamers, 1 spinner, Stokes playing as batsman). They did it against Australia at the Oval last year, scored 294 and 329, and won decisively

— Simon Wilde (@swildecricket) July 24, 2020

“Woakesy [Chris Woakes] as an all-rounder replaces Ben [Stokes] as a like-for-like. Jofra is ready to play. He’s got his smile back and bowled with real pace in the nets. [Stokes] is in great form with the bat. It’s a great time for him to be playing and for us to be playing alongside him,” Root said during the toss.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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